"South Park" airs censored episode after threat

Satirical animated TV show "South Park" beeped out the words Prophet Muhammad and plastered its Wednesday episode with the word "CENSORED" after being issued a grim warning by a U.S. Muslim group.

The irreverent comedy show on Comedy Central also substituted a controversial image seen last week of the Prophet Muhammad in a bear outfit with one of Santa Claus in the same costume.

It was not immediately clear if the move was a bid to tread carefully following the warning against the "South Park" creators, or if they were poking fun at the fuss.

The little-known group RevolutionMuslim.com posted a message on its website earlier this week warning creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker "that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show."

The website posted a graphic photo of Van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who was killed in 2004 by an Islamic militant over a movie he had made that accused Islam of condoning violence against women. It also posted a link to a news article with details of a mansion in Colorado that Parker and Stone apparently own.

***UPDATE***A Statement from Matt and Trey:In the 14 years we've been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn't stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn't some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn't mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too. We'll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we'll see what happens to it.

Replies to This Discussion

They even bleeped out his name and a big speech at the end was all bleeeeep. Buddha did coke and Moses was some kind of giant dreidel or menorah and you don't see them rioting. All it does is exemplify what a bunch of babies Muslims really are--and then they wonder why people have an unfavorable impression of them. (And Muslims if you don't like this impression, then denounce the death threats already.)

I got an idea today that Anonymous should give Mohammed the same treatment they give to Scientology. Will it cause more rioting from Muslims? Well, what doesn't?

Prog Rock Girl,
Years ago when I was still a Muslim, the BBC did an investigative documentary about the cult of Scientology (quite negative) and I thought to myself: what's the difference between a religion and a cult? Why are the BBC giving the Church of Scientology such a hard time when religions are treated with respect? It seemed like a double standard, even though I was a Muslim.

It's all about being afraid of what the religion will do to you. Scientology has a lot of power and has been successful in intimidating people too--not so much about being killed but they have been known to dig up dirt on people who expose them.

What you said, Mike. Islamists who can't deal with criticism of their precious drivel can either be bothered to grow a thicker skin or recognize that there are opinions out there other than their own which will not be silenced out of hand to suit their sensibilities.

This is bullshit... The best thing about Southpark is that no group is off limits. They made fun of bikers and I thought it was funny as hell. Someone on another thread pointed out that religion tends to discourage humor.

I think the inability to laugh at one's self is indicative of psychological disturbance!

Sorry, I've lived here way too long, so I'm allergic to motorcycles. I wonder how many bikers know about the "fag" episode, though! A couple of times I couldn't resist shouting "fag!" when they rode by, although I'm sure they couldn't hear me.

Frankly, any form of catering to islam, christianity or any other form of irrational crap is BS. I would lobby Comedy Central to air the episode UNCENSORED, with a notation before the episode that the issue of Muhammad and islam are being treated NO DIFFERENTLY than any other topic South Park has ever aired. Islam deserves NO SPECIAL CONSIDERATION as it comes to this and it should be given NONE.